


Hopes on a Feather

by KatelynnKittaly, NightysWolf



Series: Wish Upon a Wing and a Star [5]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Plans For The Future, Post-Altissia (Final Fantasy XV), Post-Canon, Post-Dawn, Post-World of Ruin, Wishes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-20 16:42:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21059864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatelynnKittaly/pseuds/KatelynnKittaly, https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightysWolf/pseuds/NightysWolf
Summary: The dawn has returned, and with it, he brings fair winds and a fresh start. Ignis holds the paper wishing bird cupped in his palms and acknowledges all he has lost and all that lies in store for his future.Created in conjunction with a render byNightyswolf.





	Hopes on a Feather

Following the source of warmth dawning across his left cheek, Ignis turned toward the east to face the fledgling light of the rising sun. If he concentrated, that constant shade of black behind his eyelids brightened ever so slightly, though he had yet to truly develop the vocabulary to describe the difference to those who would ask him from time to time.

Not a morning had gone by that Ignis hadn’t been awake to experience the dawn of a new day since the very first miracle occurred over a year ago. Even if he had only managed to find the time to lie down an hour previous, he would rise with the sun, feel the warm rays touch his skin, and remember what it had cost them all to get to this point.

Ignis took a deep breath of cool, spring air, taking note of those same smells and sounds of rebuilding he remembered from his last night here all those years ago—fresh again, but this time, full of hope. He hadn’t expected to find Altissia so vibrantly alive when the Royal Vessel pulled into the slip. The city Lucis had lost contact with nearly three years ago had always held a special significance in his heart, so he had volunteered to be one of the fifteen souls to brave the journey across the sea and learn of its fate. After all, this place had revealed to them the face of their enemy. Their trials here whispered the shape of the doom that would lead them to their end. This very statue was where Ignis’s personal journey had truly begun. 

He could still improve; one could always improve oneself as long as one was committed to the never-ending search for knowledge despite its consequences. But for the very first time in his life, Ignis had found himself facing that first rising sun and seeing the horizon of his future free and clear. As Gladio had suggested, he _could_ open a restaurant—if he wished—but that was a plan more well-suited for a productive retirement, not a life goal for a man of his vitality. How could he bear putting down roots and growing old and fat when there was so much of the world that begged rediscovering? He’d received a taste of that wanderlust that had infected his blood the very first day he’d left his home all those years ago, and it seemed his thoughts were on fire with ideas for all the ways he could be of assistance to those left as he traveled. Lucis, Accordo, Tenebrae, Niflheim . . . all boundaries had been rendered meaningless in his mind. He could explore and help them _all_.

He could even join Y’jhimei in his spare time and discover the connection between her ancient Allagan civilization and their Solheim—perhaps bring Talcott along with them.

Anything he could possibly dream of lay ahead. That mysterious song of his instinct was singing in his head like a chorus once again, their voices raised in jubilant anticipation.

Ignis lifted the paper bird, cupping its delicate wings and body between his fingers, and imagined opening his eyes to the sight of that clean, white wingspan tilting into the dawn and the fair wind he brought with him, preparing to take flight. He didn’t reach for his pen in his coat pocket, for he could think of no better future before him than the one he imagined for himself. No longer would he relinquish his fate to the whims of a capricious higher power. 

He turned ever so slightly to the north, where he knew the maw of the Tidemother’s lesser aspect lay waiting wide open. Without taking even a moment to contemplate whether the bird would land between her jaws, he set it free, knowing full-well that its flight would be extraordinary. How could it not, when he and he alone was responsible for its path?

Noct had died for all their futures, and Ignis wouldn’t waste a second of this chance to be worth that sacrifice.

He turned his head back toward the sunrise, a wistful smile pulling at his lips.

“Thank you, brother.”


End file.
